The Journey

Ladies Night Out ~ February 21st at 6:30 p.m.

Our Ladies Night Out this month will be awesome! The theme is 'Loving One Another' and will hopefully challenge our ladies to reach out to one another and share the Love of Christ in practical ways.

Dinner will be a Salad Bar and a very special dessert.

This is also the time to reveal to your Secret Sisters. Be creative and thoughtful in your revealing. We'll be talking about Secret Sisters during the evening and will announce a few changes to this very fun program.

Pastor will announce more on this even on Sunday. See you there!

Christmas Caroling

We had a blast Christmas Caroling on Thursday night. There were 49 (49ers, hmmmm) who braved the chilling winds to deliver the message of Christmas in song to our neighbors. I think that's the most we've ever had participate in our caroling adventure. Before you get upset about the guy wearing the Dallas Cowboy jacket in these pictures please understand that we just love people as they are and let God change their hearts. We've been praying for this guy for long time now.

 

Christmas Caroling

We'll be Christmas Caroling this Thursday night at 6:30 and would love for any and all to join us. You can follow along in the warmth of your car or jump on the Hayride we have set up.

Financial Peace University

Financial Peace University is coming to Harvest in January in a BIG WAY! We've added a second class to our schedule. You now have a choice. Sunday evening at 4:30 p.m. or Friday evenings at 6:30 p.m.

Check out Financial Peace University and then sign up for one of our classes. It will be one of the greatest investments you have ever made!

Dr. Robert Picirilli Speaking at Harvest This Weekend!

Dr. Robert Picirilli will be speaking at Harvest Church this Friday night at 7:00 p.m. and again on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. This will be a very exciting weekend. Dr. Picirilli will be covering two very important topics for todays church.

Friday evening's session will be held in our main chapel and then Saturday morning's session will be in the fellowship hall in our upper building.

Looking Forward To Seeing You There!

Pastor Mike

Liberty

Liberty, originally uploaded by CalPastor.

I've passed this church a hundred times and always thought about photographing it. Tonight was the night. I'll spend some time post processing these images later but I wanted to share one tonight.

I've been speaking on 'The Cross of Christ' for the past several Sundays. It is amazing how the Holy Spirit takes the message of the cross and pierces the hearts of men.

The more you ponder the cross, as a believer, the more you love God and despise sin.

Cheers!

Are you ready for New Year's Eve? I'm already hitting the bottle. Tonight I will sleep despite a nasty cough and stuffed up nose! Perry Noble calls this stuff the night time, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, wake up naked in the bathtub medicine. I had Kathy hide my car keys and I really don't care where I wake up, I just want to sleep tonight. I hate being sick!

I'm getting excited about January at Harvest! Our sermon series is "A Fresh Start" and will set the pace for the year. We need a Fresh Start, A Fresh Vision, and a Fresh Commitment! Dr. James Scott, Director of Ministries for the Redwood Empire Baptist Association, will be our guest speaker on January 21st. He is always a blessing to be around.

We are working on a special event for Valentine's Day in February. I'll share more details as this comes together. I'm thinking candlelight dinner, flowers, live music, and more. This will be an evening of laughter and romance. I am pumped up about this special event. It will be a blast!

Wow! This NyQuil stuff is already working! I'm starting to drift...My eyes are getting heavy, very heavy. I'm out of here!

Dear Lord, Please Remind Me...

Have you ever been so busy that you forget what you're doing? That seems to happen to me more and more as the years fly by. Just the other day I started out on a mission. I was determined. I was focused. However, somewhere between home and my destination, I got distracted and actually forgot what I was doing. I'm hoping it's a symptom of being too busy and not being too old.

Our children's church blessed us this past weekend with a tremendous Christmas program. It was awesome! I cry at these crazy things every year. It's just such a blessing to see these kids singing their hearts out for Jesus. I was looking through the pictures from that night and the Lord reminded me...these little faces are why I'm serving Him.

I had coffee with my friend James Scott yesterday. James is the Director of Ministries for the Redwood Empire Baptist Association here in the San Francisco bay area. We always have a great time talking about ministry and discussing ways to be more effective in reaching people with the Good News. I love this guy! During our conversation he referred me to a gentleman who is looking to donate building materials to churches, schools, and non-profits. Just last week, on Man Night, I told our men that we needed to focus on making God's House the nicest house on the block. I believe God is going to use this man's generosity to remind me that God wants Harvest right where we are and that He will supply all of our needs.

I think that from time to time we all forget. We forget why we're doing what we're doing. We forget that God is in control. We forget that He can supply all of our needs. We forget that He is working all things together for our good. We forget where we've come from and where we're going. We just get busy and forget!

Today, I'm thanking God for reminding me of a few things!

Freedom

One of my favorite lines from the movie Braveheart was when Wallace screamed out "FREEDOM!". Mel Gibson is a great actor in my opinion, but that one particular line sent chills up my spine. I haven't seen this movie in years but I have it on DVD and I think I might watch it this afternoon. That line from the movie for some reason though is stuck in my head this weekend.

American Canyon Christian Academy, our Christian school at Harvest Church, is out for Christmas vacation and so I'm sure that is part of the the reason I keep wanting to scream out like Wallace, "FREEDOM!". Our staff and students will have a little freedom to enjoy for the next few weeks. I will have a little more freedom to be about the pastor business for a few weeks.

Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. Harvest will be hosting a Free Preview of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. This is a sneak peak at the 13 week course we will be offering starting January 14th. My prayer is that more of our families will join Wallace's shout "FREEDOM!" by getting out of debt in 2007. Debt is bondage. There is nothing worse than being tied down by debt.

One of the things I enjoy about Harvest Church is freedom. We are free to worship God. It is wonderful to be free to do things differently. Different schedules, different styles of worship, different atmospheres. It is great to have the freedom to try new things! I think for a while I was in bondage to traditions and was afraid to do anything other than what I had always been taught. I am feeling a new sense of freedom in ministry these days. My purpose remains the same, I want to reach men, women, boys, and girls with the Good News! I am free however to change the methods we use to accomplish the purpose. Maybe we should all paint our face and shout with Wallace, "FREEDOM!", when it comes to ministry.

So there you have it. Do I sound nuts? I'm going to start a fire and watch Braveheart now. Then I'm going to watch, It's A Wonderful Life. I 've never seen it, but I ran across an article by John Maxwell that made me want to. After watching these two movies I will be fired up and in the Christmas spirit for the children's Christmas program tonight! See you there?

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I Saw Momma Kissing Santa Claus

I had a great time playing Santa today for Noah's Ark preschool in American Canyon. The director there needed a little Santa Smooch...what could I do?

This Sunday I will finish a series of messages on The Colors of Christmas. The final message will be on How to Have A Red (red hot) Christmas. I believe one of the greatest gifts that parents can give their children is an example of a healthy loving relationship. An old song  once said, "I want a girl, just like the girl, that married dear old dad". The reality is, many girls do go out and find guys just like their dads and many guys go out and find girls just like their moms. As parents we need to set good examples for our children to follow.

We have a busy weekend at Harvest! The children's Christmas production is Saturday and Sunday nights at 6:00 p.m. and I'm looking forward to seeing what they've been up to. Scott and Glenda Hanes always do such a wonderful job putting a holiday program together and I'm sure this year's production will be no exception. Would love to see the chapel full on both nights! People are very open to attending church events during the holiday season. Just invite them!